Every time I learned something, I felt the need to tell someone else about it, to teach it”.
Brian’s Story
Brian Swanagan’s love for mathematics grew in middle school when he participated in his first math competition. He continued to be involved in math competitions throughout high school, learning the required skills and knowledge to compete well and spending hours teaching himself various topics. As he assisted his team members with their mathematical problems, he realized that he “had a knack for explaining ideas and giving them meaning.” Brian graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a BA in applied mathematics and earned an MEd in mathematics education from the University of Georgia.
At Model High School, Brian works with classes that have a wide range of ability levels. His goal is “to give the students more opportunities to show me what they know in different ways and to think about and work out the problems.” He tries to give information on “where mathematics comes from, how it is developed, and where it is used” so that his students can better understand the subject matter. In 2009, Brian received the Georgia Power Teaching Assistance Grant.
In the summer of 2010, Brian was a Georgia Governor’s Honors Program Instructor. The program invited the top sophomore and junior high school students in various academic and fine arts areas to attend a rigorous six week summer program with the goals of giving them experiences they wouldn’t normally get in a high school classroom and helping them become lifelong learners.
Brian is actively involved in various sports and has a yellow belt in tae kwon do. He recently earned his scuba diving certification which allowed him to dive in the main exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium. He marched in the 2000 Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Sydney, Australia, playing the piccolo.